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Magic
WITCHES
Witches were persons with the power of evoking diabolic forces. Their main concern was their own advantage or else they acted at the request of a client. Besides causing evil they could also be called upon to ward off evil.
Witches usually went about in pairs and their activity could be nullified by the presence of a dog or anything canine, such as leather or shoelaces made of dog skin.
Many diseases, especially those of children, were attributed to wicked witchcraft. Infantile paralysis, for instance, was believed to be the work of witches who twisted the children’s limbs while asleep. To avert this evil, crucifixes, sacred images, or scissors were placed in the child’s crib. A death spell was believed to be the cause of tuberculosis, and jaundice was attributed to the rainbow or the moon, and indirectly to witches.
To prevent the witches from entering a home (through the keyhole or the door flap for the family cat), a broom with many fibers was hung behind the entrance door. Since the witch was “forced” to count each strand of fiber, the labor would take her till dawn, at which time witches had to depart.
Witches were feared above all because it was thought they would sneak into a house and then rush to deform the children sleeping in their cribs.
calitri tradizioni
Traditional image of a witch
Traditional images of two witches
Traditional image of a witch
calitri tradizioni
To prevent this from happening, parents would tie down the children in their cribs with a long rope and would place an oil lamp on the floor and cover it with a cylindrical-shaped container.
During the night, as soon as the parents heard the heavy breathing of the witches, (who were busy trying to untie the rope), they lifted the container, thus exposing the light, and proceeded to give the wicked creatures a sound beating.
Many families turned to sorceresses for help in healing their children; this was money wasted, since in most cases no recovery resulted. However, it was enough to have a single case of successful healing for the witch to acquire fame and commissions.
According to popular belief, to determine if the witch was authentic, one had to look for the following earmarks: she had to speak in a tone of voice different from the usual; she had to speak in a generally unknown language, she had to have extraordinary physical strength and fear of sacred objects.